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Professor Christopher Serkin recently commented on Governor Andrew Cuomo's new proposal to buy homeowners out of properties that were severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Environmentalists support the proposal, saying the “policy of retreat” protects vulnerable areas at risk of future storms and rising sea levels.

However, downsizing residential areas will create a negative impact on property taxes, remarked Professor Serkin. “There could be a fairly dramatic impact on the property-tax base for municipalities,” he told Law360. “[Towns] would either have to make that up by increasing the taxes that everybody else pays, or the state would have to make [it] up.”